Introduction to The Fantasy Game, part 2

As I covered in my previous post, I've been working on a retro-clone of the original 1974/1975 era Dungeons & Dragons rules titled The Fantasy Game. That post describes the first book, the Basic Player Guide, which covers rules for character creation, combat, magic, and exploration, which is roughly equal to Men & Magic, volume 1 of the three LBBs (little brown books) in the original boxed D&D set.

All work shown here is considered work-in-progress and is not final.

The Fantasy Game: Expert Referee Guides

My next two books in The Fantasy Game series are designed for the referee, transforming and re-editing the information found in Monsters & Treasure, volume 2 of the LBBs of OD&D.

Monster Menagerie

Expert Referee Guide: Monster Menagerie

This guide collects information only for the creatures and monsters described in the original Monsters & Treasure book. The only monsters that were not included from that book are the poorly described "other" monsters, such as titans, cyclopses, juggernauts, living statues, robots, golems, and androids (listed as "self-explanatory"). However, I did include the briefly mentioned salamander monster.

Monster Menagerie excerpt: Guide to Monsters

I created a custom stat block for monster information that collects the important data found in disparate locations of the original rules, like the Monster Reference Table (Monsters & Treasure), the Character Alignment, Including Various Monsters & Creatures table (Men & Magic), extrapolated Morale quality values (Chainmail), and other information found in monster descriptions (Monsters & Treasure, Chainmail). The original game has scattered rules for certain "types" of monsters, such as undead, person, giant, and elemental, (especially with turning, charming, and controlling magics) so I explicitly specify if a monster fits a certain type in its stat block.

Now that I've posted the excerpt above, I've spotted a few spelling and formatting mistakes that I have already fixed.

Monster Menagerie excerpt: Griffon to Hobgoblin

Yes, a hobgoblin is a "person" (as clarified in the description of the charm person spell in Men & Magic) and a griffon and a hippogriff are both considered to be "chimeras" (as per description of CHIMEREA (s.p.) in Chainmail).

Trove of Treasures

Expert Referee Guide: Trove of Treasures

The first section of Trove of Treasures consists of random treasure tables for use in determining the belongings of any monsters described in Monster Menagerie. Each monster is given a treasure type code of a letter between A and I. Type A is for bands of humans (such as bandits, nomads, or pirates) and varies by where they live (land, desert, or water). The other letter codes are generally more valuable as they go up in the alphabet, with varying chances of coins, gems, jewelry, treasure maps, and magic items.

Trove of Treasures excerpt: first page of Magic Swords descriptions

The majority of the book is dedicated to the descriptions of various magic items that may be found. The largest section details the rules for magic swords, which runs 3 1/2 pages. Magic swords in the original rules are incredibly powerful in comparison to any other editions. Every magic sword, even a lowly +1 broadsword, has an alignment with some level of intelligence and a chance to get into an ego conflict with its wielder. About half of all magic swords can communicate in some way with its wielder and has mental powers (such as detect magic or fly). Other miscellaneous types of magic weapons, even the mighty +3 war hammer, do not have these special attributes.

Magic swords truly seem to be the balancing factor of power between the original three classes. Clerics and magic-users learn to cast more powerful spells as they increase in levels, but fighting-men (or the later standardized "fighters") are the only ones who can wield the full power of magic swords. That is, until the thief class was first published in summer of 1974, ruled as being "able to employ magic swords and daggers" (Gary Gygax, The Thief Addition, 1974).

Trove of Treasures excerpt: Artifacts

Later OD&D supplements (Eldritch Wizardry and Gods, Demi-gods, & Heroes) include rules for specific artifacts and relics that would become part of the D&D product identity or hail from literature and legend. The original LBB volumes briefly mention names for possible artifacts with no descriptions, such as teleportation machine and stone crystallization projector. In my version, I researched and collected a list of example artifacts found in legends and literature that have served or could serve as inspiration for items of powerful magic in a fantasy RPG campaign.

Introduction to The Fantasy Game, part 1

As I posted about briefly in my last post, I am currently co-teaching a History of Role-Playing Games course at Drexel University. The course is a mix of lectures about the history and evolution of RPGs, written reports about specific RPGs, and with in-class activities to create characters, monsters, campaign locations, and play through an adventure using the original 1974-1975 Dungeons & Dragons (OD&D) rules.

This brought something of a dilemma - how do I distribute copies of the game rules to my class? Most of the activities would be in class, but I also wanted them to have the rules to refer to outside of class. I could theoretically distribute PDFs of the rules, citing fair use, but I am wary of the appearance of copyright infringement. The original rules are available for purchase in pdf for the 1974 price of $9.99, but I prefer to offer my students an option that does not eat into their pizza funds. Besides, I didn't want to burden them with the task of understanding how to translate those original, unedited rules.

Retro-clones were the way to go, but which one? I offered Swords & Wizardry White Box, since the creators have graciously made the older versions of the rules free to use. Marcia B.'s critical and thorough Fantastic Medieval Campaigns is nearly ideal, and even includes Chainmail, though I found myself disagreeing with some of her interpretations of the rules (not to disparage her work, these are matters of personal opinion). After the course had already started, The Basic Expert release another OD&D retro-clone, Wight-Box.

These were all good options, and all essentially compatible with one another, but I knew I wouldn't be satisfied unless I crafted my own retro-clone for the class. This would also be an academic research project to finely analyze, comprehend, clarify, and disseminate the earliest of RPG rules.

The Fantasy Game: Basic Player Guide

I set to work rewriting those original 1974 role-playing game rules with a modern sensibility. I adapted the layout of another "fantasy heartbreaker" project of my own design that I'd been working on. For that project, I'd also collected a vast amount of public domain artwork from the classic era of book illustrations (in true retro-clone fashion) that work well for this implied fantasy world. Unlike most other retro-clones, each illustration is credited with the name of the artist (if known) and the publication it was printed in. Much like the 1974 rules, I created 3 rules booklets, though the contents of my books differ somewhat from the 3 LBBs.

I decided to incorporate a few rules that were added a short time after the original game's publication. I did not want to incorporate Greyhawk rules for ability score bonuses, hit point and damage adjustments, and other changes. However, I did adapt the "open doors" rule from Greyhawk (based on strength) into a general rule useful for "ability checks." The common ability check method (roll d20 under you ability score to succeed at a task) is somewhat maligned for being too easy to succeed at (average ability score has more than 50% chance to succeed) and not fitting with other OD&D resolution systems. The open doors check, however, gives an average character a 2-in-6 chance to succeed, and up to 5-in-6 chance to succeed for an 18 strength. I adapted that rule into a feat check to succeed at any test of strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, charisma, or constitution.

I also added the weapon effectiveness charts from Greyhawk (otherwise, there is almost no difference between weapons that all do 1d6 damage), the thief class rules from The Thief Addition (with a nod to fellow Californian Gary Switzer and his Aurania campaign group that came up with the idea),  The Strategic Review FAQ, some equipment weights in Warlock, clarifications on spells and combat from Swords & Spells, and the ability for 1st level magic-users to scribe scrolls from the original Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set edited by Dr. J. Eric Holmes. Otherwise, the rules were as interpreted from the 1974 rules and from Chainmail.

Character Creation and Combat

Basic Player Guide: Character Creation and Combat

The character creation rules were the most critically important rules for my students as they would be rolling up new characters in the second week of the course. That includes how to roll up ability scores, species and class descriptions, alignment, money, equipment, and magic spells. I also wanted to include rules for exploration and combat, which consists of to-hit charts, saving throws, time and movement scales, order of combat, reaction rolls, and morale. The combat rules may end up in a separate booklet later, but for now, they are in with character creation.

I call this a "basic" player guide as the rules only cover characters up to 4th level of experience ("from zero to hero"). This saved me a lot of time in writing up spell descriptions.

Doing Things in the Game

Character Creation and Combat excerpt: Doing Things in the Game

The book needed to start with a guide to when you roll dice, what dice to roll, and why. Analyzing the OD&D rules, I determined there are several basic ways to "do things" that require a dice roll to determine if they happen or not.

Roll d20 and meet or exceed a target number: to-hit rolls and saving throws.

Roll 1d6 and roll low for a thing to happen: find secret doors, fall into a trap, get surprised, and the afore-mentioned "feat check."

Roll 2d6 and roll high to influence someone: reaction rolls, turn undead, and morale checks.

Roll d100 less than or equal to skill rating: most thief skills.

Roll several d6 and add them together, attempt to beat another character's roll: this covers the unusual grappling rules included in the Strategic Review FAQ, something I call a contest roll.

Other Changes

Character Creation and Combat excerpt: Character Classes

Fighting-man and magic-user changed to fighter and wizard.

Race changed to species. On that note, the term hobbit is replaced with halfling.

Order of combat is derived from Swords & Spells, clarifying who acts first in a mixed combat of missile weapons, magics, and melee attacks.

I derived the morale rules from Chainmail, just like the original rules recommend, but the question is: which morale rules? Chainmail has no less than three different morale systems: "post melee morale,"  a morale check for "instability due to excess casualties," and a morale check to "withstand a charge by mounted men." Chainmail's The Fantasy Supplement has specific Morale Ratings for different fantastic creatures in post melee morale, but that rule nigh unusable in an RPG combat. I adapted the "instability due to excess casualties" and had to extrapolate the melee values for various non-human combatants.

Coming soon, I'll write about the other books in this series.

Book update: Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons

I am happy to announce the upcoming publication of the book chapter "'Dr. Holmes, I Presume?' How a California Neurology Professor Penned the First Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set," co-authored with Zach "Zenopus" of Zenopus Archives. It will be published in Fifty Years of Dungeons & Dragons, scheduled for release on May 14, 2024.

This 392 page tome features 20 chapters by a variety of authors about the history, influence, and the future of Dungeons & Dragons, complete with black and white illustrations by C. Liersch. I am happy to be sharing contributor credits with the likes of Jon Peterson, Gary Alan Fine, Aaron Trammell, and Amanda Cote. The retail price of $35.00 is downright reasonable for an peer-reviewed work of this size. See the book now at the MIT Press website: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262547604/fifty-years-of-idungeons-and-dragonsi/

Our chapter revolves around the life of Dr. J. Eric Holmes and the strange set of circumstances that led this unlikely medical professor from California who had never played a wargame to be the first to author a revision to the original D&D rules for TSR. This is also a history of role-playing games in California, especially the Los Angeles and San Francisco communities, which spawned many varied ways to play in the "California gaming" scene. These are the waters of creation from which rose Runequest, Arduin, Alarums & Excursions, The Manual of Aurania, Warlock, and more, not to mention terms like "dungeon master" and the dice notation system (d8, 2d6, d100, etc.) that we all take for granted.

Early California gaming is a subject that I've written about here on this blog:

California Gaming Part I - Steve Perrin

California Gaming Part II - Erol Otus

I am currently teaching a History of Role-Playing Games course at Drexel University and presented a special lecture based on our chapter.

Don't miss my co-author Zenopus and his take on our chapter at the Zenopus Archives blog:

https://zenopusarchives.blogspot.com/2024/04/50-years-of-d-forthcoming-book-from-mit.html

#12B - California Gaming Part II - LSD&D with Erol Otus #RPGaDAY

Tracing the California Gaming Scene, part II: Erol Otus in NorCal

Erol Otus was one of the "second wave" of TSR artists hired in the mid 70s after the "first wave" of David A. Trampier, Tom Wham, David C. Sutherland and the like. His second wave contemporaries include Jeff Dee, David S. "Diesel" LaForce, Bill Willingham and later, Jim Roslof. Otus' trippy, semi-surreal illustrations brought a macabre yet whimsical, gonzo touch to TSR's publications: D&D, AD&D, Gamma World, Dragon magazine, Boot Hill, Top Secret and more.  He became a fan favorite and his distinct style made his illustrations easy to pick out from the rest.

In about 1983, he left TSR and the RPG industry. Nowadays, he creates art for several RPG companies looking for the classic-era look for their products. It is easy to forget that we didn't see any new weird fantasy RPG art come from him for a long, long time after leaving TSR.

1999 San Francisco: Return to the Art on the Borderlands

Twilight of the Idols (1999)

"LSD&D" succinctly describes Otus' trippy D&D art style, a term I first saw when I contacted Allan Horrocks of San Francisco's Aquarius Records back in 1998. "LSD&D" doesn't mean that Otus uses mind-altering substances to create his art (he doesn't (1)), just that his art mirrors the unrealities that such substances unveil.

Otus illustrated an album cover for SF band The Lord Weird Slough Feg (above) with an image that could've been pulled from a 1980 D&D module. Fellow Otus fan Horrocks, friend of the lead singer, interviewed Otus for his music 'zine, Hoe (now, unfortunately, lost to time).

Down Among the Deadmen (2000)

Slough Feg hired Otus to illustrate their next album the next year (above). Clearly, the members of the band are gamers and if their choice of artist doesn't give it away, you should check out their 2003 concept album Traveller based on the RPG of the same name.

This was the first time fans like Horrocks and me saw Otus work in his classic fantasy D&D style in over 15 years. Remember, this was long before Erol's covers for the DCC adventures The Mysterious Tower and The Haunted Lighthouse and the Hackmaster module Descent into the NetherDeep. By 1999, some D&D fans had even started asking the quesion, "Whatever happened to Erol Otus?"

Humna Humna alien graphics for Starflight 2 (1989)

Humna Humna alien illustration for Starflight 2 (1989)

After Otus left TSR, started his continuing career creating game designs, illustrations, graphics and music for video games. His refined his self-taught art skill first by studying painting at UC Berkeley and later studying illustration at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Otus joined his childhood friend Paul Reiche III at the Toys for Bob studio in the early 1990s and still works there today.

My question is: how did this gonzo gamer from Berkeley become an influential artist at such a pivotal time in TSR's history?

1976 Richmond: We'll always have Arduin

The Arduin Grimoire (1977) cover illustrated by Erol Otus

As a young gamer, Otus played miniature battles with his friends using the Chainmail rules. They soon moved on to D&D when a friend bought the original three booklet set (2). Sometime probably in early 1976, Otus began gaming with Dave Hargrave in his already long-running Arduin campaign. Hargrave hired Otus to illustrate his upcoming series of The Arduin Grimoire rulebooks to be published by Chaosium.

The Chaosium deal fell through, as I explored in a previous post, and Hargrave was forced to self-publish The Arduin Grimoire and its two sequels, Welcome to Skull Tower and The Runes of Doom (all three illustrated by Otus). The change of plans delayed publication of the first book until 1977 and the sequels until 1978.

In the forward to The Arduin Grimoire, Hargrave gives this odd note:

Special Note: the artwork for this supplement is the sole doing of one fine young artist: Errol [sic] Otus. I'm only glad I'll be able to say in ten years from now, "I knew him when..." (3)

Did Hargrave have mystical foreknowledge about Otus' future career, even if he couldn't spell his name? Not really. By 1977, Otus was already a published artist with TSR.

1976 Lake Geneva: The Dragon Reaches Westward

The Remhoraz from The Dragon #2

Otus began submitted illustrations to TSR soon after he started playing D&D. TSR Periodicals finally purchased a piece for the August, 1976 issue of The Dragon. Otus describes this in a 2009 interview with tor.com:

One the drawings was of a blue and fuchsia winged worm in an icy landscape, this was published in The Dragon #2 with stats by Gary Gygax as “The Remorhaz.” This was my first published color piece.

The Anhkheg from The Dragon #5

Three issues later, TSR Periodicals published Otus' creature write-up and illustration for the Anhkheg, now an iconic D&D creature (and now spelled Ankheg). Gary Gygax gives Otus credit for both the above creations in the 1st ed. Monster Manual(4). Not long after, TSR needed a new staff artist (possibly because Dave Trampier had just quit(5)) and hired Otus. He moved out to Lake Geneva.

There appears to be some trouble for Dave Hargrave's Arduin after this. About the time The Arduin Grimoire was in its second printing, TSR sent him a cease & desist letter to remove any references to D&D from his books. This may include Erol Otus' art as it starts to disappear from later Arduin printings.

1979 Berkeley: The Booty, the Beasts and the Necromican

Fantasy Art Enterprises logo

Erol Otus still had an effect on California Gaming. In 1979, he teamed up with his buddy Paul Reiche III (who was also being hired by TSR around this time) and Mathias Genser to create a couple of unlicensed fantasy RPG supplements. They founded their tiny publishing company, Fantasy Art Enterprises, in the "hills north of the UC Berkeley campus."(6)

Booty and the Beasts (1979) cover art by Erol Otus

Booty and the Beasts autographed by Otus to Mike, the lead singer of Slough Feg

Otus illustrated all products and contributed numerous designs. Reiche and Genser wrote the rest. They created a compilation of new monsters and treasures (Booty and the Beasts), a book of 132 new spells (The Necromican  (not The Necronomicon)), a set of Geomorphic Mini Dungeon Modules and a set of New Magical and Technological Item Cards. The last item notably includes "HANDY DANDY RANDOM MAGICAL ITEM GENERATION TABLES" with which the user may create an item that deals 3d20 points of damage or a cursed item that slays its user, "permanently."

The Necromican (1979)

Their books were saddle stapled, softcover, roughly digest-sized (more like trade paperback sized 8 1/2" x 5 1/2") booklets and other supplements were printed on letter-sized (8 1/2" x 11") cardstock. This was the de rigueur RPG supplement publishing style at the time, matching the original D&D booklets (1974) and early TSR supplements Dungeon Geomorphs (1976) and Outdoor Geomorphs (1977). One advantage is that the rulebooks and other supplements (once the cards or geomorphs were cut apart) easily fit inside the original D&D box

New Magical and Technological Item Cards (1979) art by Erol Otus

Other Califonia gamers published in this same "digest booklets + cut-apart cardstock" style. Dave Hargrave's The Arduin Grimoire booklets and various Arduin Cards supplements (1977 Grimoire Games) are in this style. Clint Bigglestone, Terry Jackson (Steve Perrin's fellow DunDraCon organizers) and Kate Wadey published Artifact Cards (1979) and both Dungeon and City Geomorphs (1978) under the DunDraCon, Inc. name. Bigglestone's other company, Fantasy Factory, produced similar card-based accessories in 1978. The Playing Board of Albany published the digest-sized The Spellcaster's Bible (1979) (see Conclusions, below). Matthew Walley of Chula Vista self-published his own Wizard's Aide (1977) booklet of the same mold.

Geomorphic Mini Dungeon Modules (1979) art by Erol Otus

Fantasy Art Enterprises' supplements tended to be of better quality than their competitors. Erol Otus' earliest illustrations were still better (or at least, more interesting) than most other amateur artists in the industry at that time. Otus' geomorphs are regarded as better than Bigglestone's or even TSR's offerings. Otus teamed up with legendary-designer-to-be Paul Reiche III (future co-creator of GW1: Legion of Gold, Mail Order Monsters, Archon, Star Control and even the Skylanders franchise) and with an ability to create a legible book (a rarity in that era) made for a winning combination.

The Neila, not H. R. Giger's Alien, from Booty and the Beasts, art by Erol Otus

And their stuff was weird, like, gonzo, out-there, bizarro weird. It was weirder that the poster child of gonzo gaming, The Arduin Trilogy.(7) Like Arduin, there is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy equipment and creatures, including aliens, robots, pulses rifles, ornithopters, particle beam weapons, whirly chairs (personal mini-helicopters) and more.

Vacucumber, victim and pile of treasure/excrement, from Booty and the Beasts, art by Erol Otus

Also, there are plenty of puns, such as the "Vacucumber" seen above, "a gargantuan sea cucumber with one addition: it has 11 huge tentacles... [with which] it combs the ocean around it for bits of food (sailors, scubadivers [sic], large fish, etc.) to suck down into its immense stomach."

Drillbot, from Booty and the Beasts, art by Erol Otus

It was weird, but not abstract. Booty and the Beasts includes a 20-location hit location system used for certain weapons/creature attacks (such as the Drillbot, above). The monsters stats tended to be simple (no alignment or treasure) but always include a Dexterity rating (sometimes as high as 25!), probably due to the dexterity-based initiative rules in the Holmes Basic D&D set (1977) or The Arduin Grimoire.

Whatever happened to Fantasy Art Enterprises? Otus and Reiche were hired by TSR, who would frown on employees making their own products to compete with them. Eventually, all three members of the company (Genser included) moved into the video game industry. FAE produced no more products after 1979.

Conclusions:

ARDUIN WAS EVERYWHERE. Every time I research a 1970s Californian RPG supplement, publisher or game designer, Dave Hargrave is affiliated somehow. Even my copy of The Spellcaster's Bible by The Playing Board has a notice stamped (not printed) to the inside front cover stating, "Some of the material within this book is inspired by and based upon material from "Adruin Trilogy" and other works by David A. Hargrave©." My planned Arduin post will require further research.

Left, Termite People from Booty and the Beast (1979). Right, Buggems (a.k.a. "Termite Men") from GW1: Legion of Gold (1981). All art by Erol Otus.

TSR got a healthy dose of gonzo where it needed it most - Gamma World. Somebody at TSR wisely put both Reiche and Otus together on Gamma World (1978), Jim Ward's new post-apocalypic, science fantasy RPG and pseudo-sequel to Metamorphosis Alpha (1976). Reiche and Otus were able to reuse some old designs, perfect for this game, as seen by the Termite People and Termite Men, above.

The lasting power of friendship? There is something to be said for childhood friends who can work together through the decades. I met both Reiche and Otus in 2011 and they were both warm, receptive guys who were a pleasure to speak with. That will be the subject of another post, dealing with a certain artifact in my possession.


1: "When people ask me if I was on drugs when I created, then I must inform that I never was." Rients, Jeff, "Interview with Erol Otus," Fight On! no. 8 (2010): 78.
2: "We had tried a bit of battling with the Chainmail rules, then a friend bought the boxed set of three pamphlets." Ibid., 77.
3: Hargrave, David, The Arduin Grimoire (Richmond: David Hargrave, 1977),  2.
4: "Erol Otus for doing the preliminary work and illustrations of the anhkheg and remorhaz which appeared in The Dragon." Gygax, Gary, Monster Manual (Lake Geneva: TSR Games, 1977), 4.
5: "My favorite D&D artist is Trampier, though he had just quit before I got there. In fact I believe that was the reason they were looking for an artist at the time." Rients, Jeff, 77.
6: Appelcline, Shannon, Designers & Dragons: The '70s (Silver Spring: Evil Hat Productions, LLC, 2014), 322.
7: "Most consider Fantasy Art's books even more gonzo than Arduin itself." Ibid.

#10 Favorite Game Fiction - The Maze of Peril #RPGaDAY

Let's face it, most game fiction isn't very good.

Many examples of game fiction tend to break the rules of the game's universe or adhere too closely to the game's format and just end up with mediocre stories. Not every good game designer is a good fiction writer (but many think they are). They often get tangled up in serious, epic, wanna-be Lord of the Rings, everything-depends-on-us quests to save the world and miss out on the fun of adventure gaming. To belabor the famous Joker quote, "Why so serious?"

I've read some of the earliest game fiction novels ever printed. Veteran author Andre Norton's Quag Keep (1978) is notable as a historical, early peek into Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk/The Great Kingdom setting. The sequel, Return to Quag Keep, loses the Greyhawk setting and the small amount of charm the original held.

The oldest game novel I've found is War-Gamers' World (1978) by Hugh Walker (pen name for Hubert Straßl). It was first published in German as Reiter der Finsternis (Rider of Darkness) in 1975 and is the first book of the Magira series. It is based on the German fantasy wargame/proto-RPG hybrid Armageddon developed by the gaming group FOLLOW in 1966. Since that time, the setting spawned several RPGs. This first novel opens with a player getting sucked into the game's fantasy world. There are several references to seeing the world as interconnected hexagons. Not recommended except as another historical oddity.

I give a hearty recommendation for my favorite piece of game fiction: The Maze of Peril, a short novel written by the original Basic D&D rules editor, Dr. John Eric Holmes.

SPOILER ALERT: They don't save the world

Contrary to the publisher's blurb. Our heroes don't try to save the world. Boinger the halfling and Zereth the elf are just out to make a buck without having to get a real job. They undertake adventures to make quick cash and live the life of Riley at the Green Dragon Tavern for a few months. When the gold runs thin and the landlord comes a knockin', they undertake another delve into the Underworld to relieve some nasty monsters of their glittering treasures.

Boinger, another party member and Zereth relieving some nasty monster of its glittering treasure (art by Jim Roslof from "The Sorcerer's Jewel")

It is so refreshing to read an adventure story without the gloom and doom of the ultimate destruction of everything good folk hold sacred due to the megalomaniacal plans of some evil Sauron look-alike dark lord. These are two good friends just struggling to get by and maybe, someday, hit it rich. Their camaraderie and their humor really comes through in Holmes' writing. In a good way, it reminds me of the early Star Wars comic books by Marvel. The galaxy was safe from the ultimate apocalypse weapon, the Death Star, and the raised stakes of The Empire Strikes Back hadn't come into play yet. Han, Luke, Leia and their friends were free to adventure and freewheel their way across the galaxy.

BEGIN SPOILER WARNING

Bardan the dwarf's fate (as portrayed by Barely A. Dwarf in "Were-shark," an early version of The Maze of Peril's chapter 2 published as a stand-alone short story, art by Chris Holmes)

Nothing world-shattering is at stake; Boinger &co's quests are of a personal nature. During an early foray into the Underworld, one of the party fighters, Bardan the dwarf, perishes in combat. They bury his body in the cemetary but disturbingly find his grave exhumed and coffin empty a few days later. Boinger implores the party to return to the dungeon to thwart the revenge plans the evil-doers have for his friend's corpse.

The Maze of Peril adventures run the gamut from dungeon delve, urban adventures, bureaucratic red tape cutting, carousing, burglary, back to dungeon delve, Lovecraftian horror and even naval combat. Also, the book features one of the funniest uses of a petrification gaze that I would totally allow to happen if it comes up in a game.

END SPOILER WARNING

Holmes had several short stories about Boinger, Zereth (a.k.a. Xoreth) and their fellow adventurers published in Dragon magazine and Alarums & Excursions APA-zine. It is no secret that these tales were based on Holmes' home D&D campaign; Boinger was the player character of Chris Holmes, Dr. Holmes' son and occasional illustrator. These stories give us a window into Dr. Holmes' campaign and even how he interpreted certain D&D rules.

One famously unclear rule regards magic-users and their restriction from using armor and swords. In the days of OD&D, even famous, accomplished gamers were unclear on the ruling* and many cried foul against the sword restriction (after all, Gandalf used a sword). What logical reason (besides gameplay balance) could there be for this restriction?

Holmes succinctly gives his reasoning in two sentences. On page 34 of The Maze of Peril, Zereth removes all metal from his body, washes up and puts on a wizard robe before casting a spell. He explains to a confused Boinger that he:

"Can't have iron touching the body anywhere; no iron, even nails in the boot heels. It drains the flow of force from the other world."

No further explanation is required. Boinger asks, "It does? How?" Zereth tells him to, "Keep quiet," and no more is said on the matter.

This prevents magic-users from even wearing leather armor (with iron buckles). Presumably, a wizard's dagger must be made of bronze, silver or another non-ferrous metal. This stems from old folklore about iron's protective properties against magical creatures and has become a modern trope. It fits with Tim Powers' piratey fantasy novel On Stranger Tides (HIGHLY recommended reading) where magic disappears from the world as iron spreads with the advances of western civilization. The faerie-folks' aversion to iron seen in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions (also recommended) resonates as well.

Boinger vs. a one-armed troll (art by Chris Holmes from "Trollshead")

This leads to another rule: elves are combination fighters and magic-users and the OD&D rules state they "freely switch class whenever they choose, from adventure to adventure" (Men & Magic, p. 8). How does that apply to spellcasting and armor/weapon use? Holmes gives another example with Zereth in the short story "Trollshead" in The Dragon magazine #31, p. 41:

"Zereth took off his sword belt and helmet and laid them on the ground... He lay flat on his belly and reached into an inner pocket of his linen tunic to produce a pinch of fine sand. This he tossed into the air, mumbling rapidly as he did so."

To switch from fighter to magic-user, Zereth removes his sword belt and helmet (the only iron on his body) before casting a sleep spell on some unexpecting half-orcs. This goes against his own "elves must decide" ruling in his Basic D&D manuscript that states that elves cannot change in the middle of an adventure. In later stories, such as "The Sorcerer's Jewel"** (Dragon #46), Zereth wears armor while casting spells. It is assumed that Holmes was playing AD&D by this time, which does allow for spellcasting, armored, multiclassed magic-users.

Another question arises: just what are the "dungeons" in the world of Dungeons & Dragons? Why is there a near-endless number of underground labyrinths filled with nasty creatures and fabulous treasures? Zereth ponders the titular maze in The Maze of Peril, p. 3:

"Somewhere beneath the surface of this ancient land the tunnels and corridors of some prehistoric race coiled and raveled, delved, and probed unimaginable depths into the core of the world... What race or races had built the original maze no one knew. It seemed in the opinions of the sages and magicians of the time, that there must have been many layers of dungeons and underworlds laid down, one atop the other, as the world crust was formed, so that now no one knew, or even guessed, how many levels it extended below the surface."

Here, in one (wordy) sentence is the justification for a world of dungeons. It explains just enough to give the game world some logic yet leaves plenty of mystery for players to discover in their journeys into the Underworld. Of course, the truth may be very different from what the sages and magicians assume as fact.

Gary Gygax first hinted at such an Underworld with the D series of modules starting in 1978 (about the time The Maze of Peril was written). Later D&D authors would call this subterranean realm the Underdark and give their own reasons for its existence.

Zereth and Boinger (art by Donna Barr from "In the Bag")

In Conclusion:

The Maze of Peril is my favorite piece of game fiction because it feels most like the D&D games I've played. Rarely did we adventure to save the kingdom/world/multiverse. We were a bunch of friends looking for some excitement and quick cash together. We'd hatch elaborate schemes, find ourselves in deep trouble, then put our heads together to make sure they didn't roll off our shoulders come the dawn. We were comrades, bonded in the face of danger, celebrating each success until wanderlust crept back into our hearts and we were off on another wild quest.

Those are good times, and so is this book.

Notes:

Watch for Fight On! magazine issue #15 dedicated to J. E. Holmes coming soon! Read my heavily researched character write-ups for Boinger, Zereth and their "pal" Murray the Mage, along with guidelines for iron-restricted spellcasting, in my article, "Holmes Town Heroes."

The 1000 copy print run of The Maze of Peril is getting harder to find, but still available. Check out Holmes' short stories from Dragon magazine:

"Trollshead" The Dragon #31
"The Sorcerer's Jewel" Dragon #46
"In the Bag" Dragon #58

Complete Holmes Bibliography

* UK game designer Ian Livingstone (Games Workshop co-founder, Fighting Fantasy game books co-creator, etc.) erroneously wrote in his 1982 book Dicing with Dragons: An Introduction to Role-Playing Games when explaining D&D classes: "Each class has restrictions as well. For instance, The Magic User may only wear leather armour or no armour at all..."

** Although The Maze of Peril (1986) was published 5 years after "The Sorcerer's Jewel" (1981), we know Maze was completed earlier as Holmes states that it was ready to publish in an L.A. Times interview from 1979.